Car-door.



A. C. SAGER.

I GAR DOOR.

APPLICATION rum) NOV.13, 1911.

1,039,446. Patented Sept. 24,1912.

Wz'i'a 6/1 4114 jaw/awe UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT C. SAGER, OF SAVANNA, ILLINOIS.

CAR-DOOR.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALBERT C. SAGER, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of Savanna, county of Crroll, and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and usefulImprovements in Car-Doors, of which the following is a specification.

"My invent-ion relates .to sliding doors such as are adapted for useonfreight. cars, barns, etc.,.and has special reference to doors whichare flush with the car or building when closed and which are heavy anddifiicult to handle. H a

The object-of my invention'is to provide a; sliding door which, althoughflush with the side of the car or building when closedfisi yet readilyand easily fully opened, and' which shall be stron and durable andsecure against loss or displacement. More specifically the object of myinven-; tion is .to improve the supporting and operating means forsuchdoor Further objects of iny invention will appear hereinafter. v

My invention resides in a sliding door having ball bearing supportingand operat-' ingmeans. I

"It consists further in a slotted tubular; support rotatable by means ofa lever and having ball bearing door supports slidable therein.

The invention further consists in such door holding and operating meansin combination with means for securing the door in closed and openposition.

My invention further resides in the various improvements, the severalcombinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter describedandillustrat'ed in the accompanying drawin' which form a part of this.specification; and pointed out in the appende claims. I

Ln thedrawings Eigure 1 is a frontelevation of part of the s de ofa carhaving a door equipped With door supporting and operating meansembodying my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged end elevation detail takenfrom the;. upper left hand corner of Fig. 1, showingjn full lines theposition of the operating lever when the door is close-dd and in'dottedlines t-he position of the lever and door just after the door has beenwith-' drawn. from its opening in the side of the:;

car. Fig. 3'is a vertical section taken on the? broken line w-w of Fig.1, the door having been withdrawn fr'OmHts'opening. 4 is an enlargeddetail in partial section Show- Specification of l 'ietters Patent.Application filed November 13, 1911. Serial No 660,058.

iatente d Sept. 24, 1912.

ing the ball containing member within the supporting tube. s 7 Referringfurther to the drawings, trepresents the side of the car; 2 is a cardoor flush therewith; 3 is an iron tube containing a slot for theaccommodation oft-heksliding member 5, the latter havingdepending,portions 6 to which .the car door is secured by nuts 7 on thethreaded stems respectively of the members 33 secured to .the car doorby means of bolts 9. The sliding member 5 is provided with .two pairs ofantifriction balls 10 near each end thereof, the four pairs being shownin dotted lines in Fig. l and two pairs being shown in full lines inFig. 4. Lugs 11 in combination with the depending members 6 hold theballs in operative relation at all times. These balls, as will be seenfrom l ig. 4, are adapted to .travel in theslot 4., the balls beinghowever of greater diameter than the width of the slot-,theballs thustaking the weight of the door and communicating same to the innersurface of the tube at the point of juncture thereof with said slot.Ihave foundit advantageous to make the member 5 in one integra l'pieoo 1to prevent the binding cltecl which 1' have found present when the pairsof balls are held by separate members, especially when the member 5 ismade to lit clcscly to the inside of the tube opposite the supportingmembers 6 for purposes of leverage as will be hereinafter described.

A lug having a bell' crank lever 12 is securec in one end of the tube 3byi ine'ans of a bolt 13. This bolt also securesa collar 14 on saidtube. A similar collar .113 is similarly secured at the other end of(the tube, both collars being fixed in close association with hearingstandards 16 secured to the sides of the 'car by bolts 13. A thirdbearing standard .17 adapted to surround only a ortion of the tube 5 isprovided on said tu e midway between the other two standards. 'Eligopening in this medial standard permits the'membors ti'to passtherethrough. A chain 18 attached to the lever 12 enab es a personstanding on the ground to draw the door into closed position.

19 denotes a light metal shield which I sometimes employ to protect themechanism just described against the weather.

The fastening mechanism comprises a rod 20 pivoted in boxes 21and'provided with a pair of bell crank levers 22 lto'which are hingedrespectively pins 23 passing through channeled guide members 24-on thedoor and into similar guide members 25 on the side, of the car. Theseguide members are bolted to the door and car respectively in the usualmanner. Aloop 26 is turned centrally in the rod 20 and adapted to engagean upsta-nding ring or staple 27 in such manner that a lock or seal 28may be inserted in said ring and prevent the loop from being withdrawn.It will thus be seen that when the loop is in the position justmentioned the car door is effectively secured against withdrawal at thebottom from its opening. A latch 29 adapted to engage a portion of thestop 30 holds the door in open position. The extension 30 on said stopkeeps the door from swinging outwardly at the bottom when open. A chain31 secured to the car door by means of a ring or staple 32 provided witha ring 33 slidable upon a longitudinal rod 34 secured at its ends .bybolts 35. This chain and rod prevent the car door from swinging out objectionably while the same is being opened.

VVhilefthe car door is in suspended posi tion as shown in Fig. 3 thelever 12 is substantially horizontal. Assuming the car door to have beenmoved upon its ball bearings to a position directlyopposite the openingin the car door, it thechain 12 is drawn downwardly the tube 3 in rigidassociation therewith will be turned and the depending portion 6 of themember Swill be carried inwardly-toward the car. .This effect is securedthrough the leverage provided by the upper portion of the member 5binding against the inner surface of the tube, the tube pressing alsoagainst the member 6. As the member 6 is turned inward andupward thedoor 2 pivotally mounted thereon is Sim-- mediately below it. The link26, which has been in an upright position the While is now turneddownwardly and the pins 23 are thereby projected 'into the lockingmembers 25. Great ditliculty has heretofore been experienced in theoperation of doors of this kind largely owing to their weight. Thesedifficulties are overcome by my present invention, which as has thusbeen seen, provided a car door which is extremely simple and easy ofoperation both in the sliding of thedoorand in securing it in thedesired posit-ions.

While I have illustrated a preferred form of; my improved door inconnection with a car, I do not limit myself to such use, or to theprecise form of construction shown as obviously the door is capable ofbeing used variously and also it is apparent that the in vention may beembodied in various forms of construction. myself of such uses andmodifications of the device as fall within the scope of the appendedclaims.

I claim 1. The combination with a rotatable tubular supporting member;of members mount-- ed for reciprocation therein; and a door hinged tosaid reciprocatory members.

2. In a sliding door of the class described a tubular supporting member,a sliding member within said tubular member, a door hinged to saidsliding member, means for turning said tubular member and securing saiddoor in fixed position, substantially as described. r

3. In a sliding door of the class described, a slotted tubularsupporting member, a slid ing member in said tubular member and slot, adoor pivotally connected with said sliding member, a lever on saidtubular member adapted to turn the same, and means fo holding the doorin fixed position.

1. In a sliding door of the class described a tubular member rotatablymounted in fixed supports a collar at each end of said tubular memberadapted to prevent lateral movementthereof, a continuous longitudinalslot in saidtubular member, a sliding member in said tubular membercomprising a longitu- I therefore wish to avail for maintaining saiddoor in either closed or open position.

5. The combination with a tubular supporting member provided with a slotthere in; of a plurality of reciprocatory members mounted in" saidtubular member; downwardly extending bars carried. by said re-- ALBERTC. SAGER.

Witnesses GEO. WM. WOLF,

"JOHN R. CoNn nL.

Qua pies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the F commissioner of Patents.

Washington, 12. 0."

